twitterponiesfandomcom-20200214-history
User blog:Mlp NewTwilight/First Day Fracas
Okay, it seems like there was quite a mess yesterday while I was afk. :P To be honest, I was expecting something like this to happen, I just didn't know who it would happen to or when. I'm happier to have it out of the way quickly. In short: a couple of players engaged in behavior completely inappropriate to the TwitterPonies as established by our Guidelines, a few other players tried to respond in-character, which caused other players to become upset, and the whole thing blew out into a big mess. I'm not going to go into the blow-by-blow of what happened, because there's no point in pointing hooves or making accusations. I'm just going to discuss a few salient points: What Do You Do When Confronted With an Inappropriate Scene? This is the heart of it. Two players were involved in a violent, ugly scene. Because one of these players had been given the status of being CastleBrary staff, this made other CastleBrary players get involved. After all, they're your co-workers, right? Naturally if they were attacked you should run to their defense! Well, yes and no. I admire your desire to stay in character, and while the answer to bad RP is good RP is usually the case, it isn't always. When something so clearly outside the bounds of appropriate behavior happens, it's almost impossible to resolve it properly in character. When that happens, it's both acceptable and appropriate to go OOC to address it, like so: @mlp_OverTheTop:' *pulls out a magnum and shoots Pinkie in the head* ''YOU: (( @mlp_OverTheTop, that's completely against the Guidelines and makes me really uncomfortable. Please delete that and do something else? ))'' Hopefully they will respond with “Whoops, my bad!” and fix it, in which case life carries on. Players being what they are, however, sometimes they'll refuse. At which point all you can do is bail out of the scene and unfollow them as long as they continue engaging in that behavior. @mlp_OverTheTop: '*pulls out a magnum and shoots Pinkie in the head*'' ''YOU:' (( @mlp_OverTheTop, that's completely against the Guidelines and makes me really uncomfortable. Please delete that and do something else? )) @mlp_OverTheTop: '(( You're not the boss of me, I do what I want! )) *stomps on Pinkie's dead body*'' ''YOU:' (( I am not going to participate in this scene any longer. )) (unfollow @mlp_OverTheTop) ''YOU: *is at Sweet Apple Acres* Wow, what beautiful apple trees!'' Yes, it's an awkward and sudden break. But it also shows you mean business. And it's also the only way to nip this kind of thing in the bud. Keep in mind that if someone is clearly going against the Guidelines, and continues to do so after being called on it, then '''''what they really want is for the rules not to apply to them. If you continue to RP with them, that means you have implicitly agreed to play by THEIR rules instead. It's your choice if you want to do that, but you risk losing the trust of the many players who have chosen to agree to the Guidelines, including all of the Manes. Nobody Owes You Attention, and You Owe Them None (You Really AREN'T the Boss of Anyone) The ponies engaged in inappropriate behavior could have never caused such a big problem if they hadn't been given attention by nature of being CastleBrary employees. After all, if someone is grimdarking and you're not watching, they might as well not be grimdarking at all, right? If you see anypony (and that includes members of the Mane Six, long established accounts of any variety, or even your best friend) doing things that make you uncomfortable, you don't have to put up with it. Just unfollow and ignore them. It's your right and prerogative. They can't do anything about it, and if they start to hassle you, mute or block them. The CastleBrary doesn't have a Cake Boss, but imagine for a moment that it did. Cake Boss then goes to the cooking staff and says, “Be in the kitchen at 8:00 a.m. sharp every morning! Any player who isn't there will get disciplinary action! Any player who misses two days in a row is FIRED! I'm Cake Boss! You have to do what I saaaaaay!” But of course, all of the players on the cooking staff are students who have class at 8:00 a.m. What do you think is gonna happen? Obviously, the Cake Boss is going to run out of staff quick. Remember that behind the pony accounts, we are all players, due just as much respect as any other, and with the same complete lack of authority as any other. ;) Being “somepony's boss” in the RP doesn't mean you can actually order them around. We're all in this for fun, and if roleplaying feels like work, people won't want to do it. If you have a “boss” in the RP (even if it's just me), cooperate if you can and when it's fun to do so, but don't rearrange your real life around it. And if you are somepony in a position of authority, use a very light touch. Some of This is My Fault, and All of It is My Responsibility I should come clean here. I was a little concerned about some of the players I chose for CastleBrary staff, especially after they engaged in inappropriate behavior during the actual hiring scene. I tried to gently nudge them away from it, because that is often effective, but clearly it didn't get through to them. I was hoping that I could coach them away from such behavior over time, but clearly I was wrong about that, and I apologize. In any case, I created this whole situation with the Job Fair storyline, and it's my job to clean up the mess. So I'll be working on getting everything smoothed out and everypony's metaphorical feathers unruffled over the next few days. My goal is to make sure the RP is fun for everyone as far as that's possible while still operating within the Guidelines. That's what princesses are here for! Staffing Changes As of this morning, I know of the following staffing changes that will definitely be made. @mlp_Sacred will be moved to the Knights of Friendship with the position of Knight Hospitallar. @mlp_Prae will be moved to the domestic staff under @mlp_audiapuzzle with the position of Royal Tinker working with @mlp_Birdcat . Category:Blog posts